Does he or doesn’t he . . . work hard?

“How can you grow a business from scratch to employing 1100
people without work hard? It just isn’t possible,” they shriek in disbelief.

“Clearly you ‘busted your butt’ to grow your businesses.
There can be no other way,” they conclude with righteous conviction.

Crushed to see my veracity challenged, I have decided to use
this week’s post to answer these skeptical, suspicious souls.

Let me first explain my involvement with the game of golf. Please
bear with me as it relates . . . eventually.

I love golf. I love everything about it. I don’t think there
is a more satisfying experience in all of sports than executing the perfect
golf shot and watching the ball scrape the heavens to the joyful accompaniment
of celestial hosts oohing and aahing their appreciation in four-part
harmony.

Golf is a game. And games are to be played. So I play golf; I don’t work golf.

Now here is the punch line:

I approach business the
exact same way as I approach golf. Business is a game to me. It is like a
giant board game, only more fun because there are more pieces, more players, more variations,
more rules, more dice, more unpredictability, more possibilities, and more ways
to win. There are even chances to create new rules if the traditional ones
don’t suit you.

I love to play the game. I adore all the challenges that
business offers (and some of those challenges are even self-imposed
like wanting my enterprises to be socially responsible). Just like I love doing
cryptograms or crossword puzzles in the newspaper, I get totally juiced trying
to figure out business conundrums and tackling business problems. It is so much
fun playing this game that defining it as “busting my butt” doesn’t compute. For
me, golf isn’t work; it is fun. For me, solving cryptograms isn’t work; it is
fun. For me, doing business is not work; it is fun.

I have never busted, nor will I bust, my butt. I simply and
unequivocally don’t believe busting a butt accomplishes anything. I vastly prefer
my butt in its pristine, unbusted state as it comfortably resides in its
organic cotton habitat.

“Okay, then,” some readers may counter, “you must be
gifted/lucky/talented/blessed.”

Guys, I am not any more gifted than anyone else. In fact, I
may be LESS gifted than most. I am not particularly smart. I don’t know
finance. I don’t know technology. I don’t know law. I have no expertise in
anything. I don’t have a good memory. Things go in one ear and out the other. I
don’t have a long attention span. I don’t have a comprehensive vision that can
hold many details/issues in my mind at once. I read excruciatingly slowly. And
whatever intellectual capability I have is easily derailed by the slightest
fluctuation in my emotions.

But, even still, I built some substantial businesses. Two of
my businesses were named to INC magazine’s list of the fastest growing
companies in America four times. In 1995, one was even ranked #2 – the second fastest growing
company in America.

Here is how I was able to do it.

I did not do it with hard work. I did not do it by busting
my butt. I did it by having fun – so much fun that people were attracted to that
fun. I then picked the most competent attractees to be on my team and off we
went. Whatever “hard work” there might have been, I had long since turned into
a game and we had fun “playing” it.

We had fun and by having fun we discovered stuff which led
to more fun which led to more discoveries which led to more fun and so on. In
my opinion, when the fun stops, that is an indication that the end is near.
Preserving the fun, nurturing the fun, and stoking the fun are the keys to a
thriving organization.

Hard work is not the formula to success. If you think it is,
then you have been misled. If you are espousing it, then you are misleading
others.

You are welcome to confront Goliath thinking work hard will
defeat him. You can even think your blood, sweat, busted butts, and smashed
skulls are badges of work-ethic courage and righteous
sacrifice. But in my mind they only point to the sheer stupidity and futility
of doing hard work.

Isn’t it smarter and more effective to stand away from the
fray so you don’t have to smell Goliath’s foul odor and lazily defeat him with a mere flick of your wrist? That way you
don’t have to discharge a bead of sweat, you get home before lunch, and you
take the rest of the day off.

And how did David perfect that solution? While he was
tending flocks, he “played” around with his sling and got good at it. He beat
Goliath via an entertaining pastime.

If someone is working hard, it means only one thing – that that
person didn’t use his intelligence, or his creativity, or his light-heartedness
to find an easier, more enjoyable, more effective way of doing the same thing.

Hard work should be avoided at all costs. Instead have fun, play
games and laugh. Don’t collaborate,
co-playorate. And co-create.
And co-discover. And, as a result, co-get-superrich.

Comments

Like you, I was amazed at all those who failed to 'get it', believing that hard work was the answer, and anyone that says otherwise is just deluding themselves. In fact, it is they who are deluding themselves by choosing to believe hard work is the only way to succeed. Or they believe there is simply no success, and there is instead only survival.

They justify their existence by trying to pull others down to their level, preferring to believe that anything outside of their own experience is impossible. They don't realise that by following their passion, they'll find success.

It's not about working hard to get where you want to go, it's about working easy. When you do something you enjoy doing, you just don't consider it to be work, let alone 'hard work'. The trick to succeeding is finding something that you want to do, that you love doing, and then you do it! When you let yourself enjoy it, think of it as your hobby that can help others, then you'll love what you're doing. Others will pay you for your services and your goods, and you'll be amazed that they're doing so.

Before you know it, you're making a fortune doing something you love, and because you love doing it, you're happy. Your happiness spreads to those around you, who spread it to those around them, and as a result your clientele increases, because people would rather buy something from someone who makes them happy, than from someone who makes them miserable.

I would rather give money to the person who doesn't seem to need it, than to the person who is looking hungrily at my wallet. The difference between the two is that one is enjoying themselves doing what they love, while the other is working hard to make a living.

The difference is in the attitude, and I'm absolutely gobsmacked that so many people will get to abusive to hold onto their negative beliefs about how hard they have to work, rather than look for 'the secret' to their success, by doing something they enjoy.

I'm forced to wonder why so many people will fight to hold onto their pain and their anger and their frustration, rather than let it all go and seek the 'easy path' of personal enjoyment. It's really sad to see them fighting to hold onto all of that pain and anger, when they simply don't need to.

Seriously though, have you *never* had a point where you weren't enjoying what you were doing?

I pretty much love what I do for work, I'd probablly be doing *roughly* the same thing if nobody were paying me. If they were offering free lunch as compensation even, I'd be willing to do the same stuff. But there are parts of work that frustrate me because I don't know everything that I need to in order to finish the job (I'm a programmer, lack of knowledge is basically the single hurdle I face), and because some of the systems I work with are experimental, there is very little to learn from, so I have to do trial and error to get things to work. And that can be very annoying and make you want to give up.

I don't mind the parts that aren't intrinsically fun though because when I have overcome a difficult challenge, I've expanded my skills.

Even video games that I *love* to play can present challenges that aren't tuned to a players skill. Sometimes they simply have to be ground out and quickly forgotten.

I don't think anyone denies that having fun is ultimately what you want to do in a job, just that they want you to admit that for most people, they will inevitably face a problem that requires doing something distasteful, unpleasureable, or just plain hard.

"I approach business the exact same way as I approach golf. Business is a game to me. It is like a giant board game, only more fun because there are more pieces, more players, more variations, more rules, more dice, more unpredictability, more possibilities, and more ways to win."

Well that explains it. You enjoy work. Work is fun for you and therefore its not really work. Its the same for anyone who loves what they do. Thats not being lazy. In fact thats the farthest thing from it. According to Websters dictionary "lazy" means: disinclined to activity, moving slowly or sluggish, not energetic. If someone played golf that way the ball would never travel more than a few feet no matter how interested they were in the game.

If you approached work that way it would never take off. Someone who really suffers from being lazy as myself cant seem to get anything done even the things they enjoy.

By constantly using the word "lazy" as in "the lazy way" you are misleading people into believing that true laziness will lead to success. This isnt the case. It seems more of a marketing ploy to get attention (catchy title) and sell books. However, the information contained herein is no different than the advice contained in the best selling books on success.

I am throwing up my hands in exasperation, Mr. AJ. I don't know how to be more clear. You have your boundaries and you're trying to cram me into them. Sorry, but I don't fit in your world.

Golf is a game. It is played. Solitaire is a game. It is played. People don't work games. They play them. There is nothing about games that is work. If you want to work games then that is your choice. It is a profoundly boring choice, in my opinion, but your choice.

As for being lazy I am definitely inclined to avoid activity. I even avoid activity in playing golf. In fact, I am writing a book on just that subject and by avoiding activity, the ball goes farther, straighter, and more consistently but that is another story for another time. I don't want to blow your mind too much in one response.

As for business, I too avoided activity. But that doesn't mean I didn't accomplish anything.

When most people do less, they accomplish less. And when most people do nothing, they accomplish nothing. That being the common experience, it is no wonder that people think that in order to accomplish more they need to do more. Unfortunately these people don't know that there is a magical way to do less that accomplishes more and that there is a magical way of doing nothing that accomplishes everything. That is what I teach. It is being lazy in the absolute sense and it "plays" like a charm.

As to my book, it is definitely unique. There is no other success book that I know of that teaches people how to do nothing properly and as a result accomplish everything.

Hello Fred,
And now for something completely different.....
There have been alot of at home business opportunities as well as numerous entrepreneurs who are advertising on national radio they're proven programs on how to become wealthy in real estate etc.
There are even more being touted on television. The internet abounds with all kinds of opportunites to become rich.
So Fred, as a successful boot-straps to riches businessman, would you give any credence, any attention to these things. Or, do you hold fast to your guns...er, I mean hammock and nurture your passions(s).
Is it also possible that one's passion could be realized while pursuing and implementing someone else's ideas?
What do YOU think?

I don't know if these things have value or not. I was never attracted to them and it isn't that I haven't been approached. I don't care to spend a major portion of my day doing something that doesn't completely captivate me. I'm not interested in selling real estate, or trading commodities, or creating a multi-level downline, or God knows what.

I like it when I can't wait to get up in the morning so I can advance my project, whatever it happens to be at any given moment. It doesn't have to be commercially oriented either. Most of the time it isn't. I, for one, would get bored silly mighty quickly if I had to watch the price of dead pigs go up and down all day and speculate on the eventual outcome. I think Mother Nature has bigger hopes and plans for each one of us than being real estate salesmen or multi-level marketers.

Fred,
I agree that Mother Nature has bigger hopes and plans for all of us no matter what we do in the relative for work,
However, wouldn't you agree that unless one is a recluse then we need to be engrossed in a commercially oriented endeavor to reap the rewards of success and put lots of money in deep pockets and on the flip side of the coin live a fulfilling spiritual life, in other words, live 200% of life.....100 inner and 100 outer

I would first like to begin by saying that the overall information on your blog is helpful and informative. I'm not attacking your information just the words you use to describe your information.

With that being said, I have a problem with the way you define two words; work and lazy.

The way you describe the word lazy is NOT laziness in the "absolute sense" of the word. You have simply redefined the word to make it fit into your world of success. You are redefining lazy to describe someone who avoids unnecessary work because they work smarter. This is not laziness.

Take page 47 of your book for example when talking about Von Moltke. You describe his best soldiers as being the smart lazy ones. Moltke theory was simply that a good strategy is what will decide the outcome of war not manpower. His best officers were ones who could strategize well. Because they worked smarter and avoided unnecessary tasks and operations doesnt make them lazy. I doubt any historian in the world would describe Von Moltke and his officers as you have.

BTW, you said it yourself on the same page (47) that the soldiers who were both mentally dull and lazy were used for nothing but simple tasks. This supports my argument that if someone is really lazy unless they’re smart or talented won’t really become successful.

As for your comment about work, basketball players, golfers, and the like spend hours on end training. To you its playing to them its work. These guys train to the point of exhaustion. Its not all pretty and rosy as you make it out to be. I’m pretty sure that Tiger Woods doesn’t go golfing when he’s on vacation. Just because they like what they do doesn’t mean its not work. So they play for a living but its still work. When I want my garden to be beautiful I go outside and work my garden. I don’t play my garden. When I want to figure out a difficult brain teaser I work at it. I don’t play it. Just cause I use the word work doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it. Its all about semantics.

I think you are confusing people with your choice of words and definitions. It upsets me personally cause I am lazy and I suffer from it because at the same time I have a limited ability to focus and think strategically. I cant seem to get things done even the things I enjoy immensely. You’re not helping people by telling them that its good to be lazy. I wonder where you would be if you spent your entire day lounging around on the hammock instead of “playing” your business.

AJ: I can sympathize. But maybe the problem here isn't your laziness, but the fact that you beat yourself up over it.

I'm a chronically lazy person myself and I used to envy the hard workers. But only until I learned to work with rather than agains my laziness. I wrote about it here:
http://positivesharing.com/2006/03/my-lazy-life

I'm getting results that I never could've gotten if I'd somehow managed to force myself to work hard. Fortunately I never could do that. I can only ever work easy - or play.

Remember that the laziness Fred talks about isn't about not accomplishing anything - it's about accomplishing it without any unpleasant work.

Yes I think that's indeed a good distinction, Factoring Invoices. I'm sure Fred played with his ideas a lot.

I completely agree with Fred, hard work leads to nothing. I've experienced this first hand with my bachelor degree in Software Engineering these past two semesters. We had to work extremely hard to finish our projects, there was no time to be really creative and have fun. We worked 'til late at night during normal week days, and we busted our butts off in the weekends. I can honestly say I had no social contact in the past two months whatsoever. For a while I considered quitting my studies if things were to keep up this way. Life and work should be fun! Thankfully I'm off to graduate after summer, and I'll be doing it the "lazy" way :) Don't let anyone tell you that hard work pays off, because it simply doesn't. Enjoy your profession and play with it :)

I had a look at your blog and I got a copy of the Seven Day Weekend both are very intersting. So here is what I have to say about both your blog and the book. While they are both truly interesting neither of them deal with real laziness. The seven day weekend talks about an alternate strategy to running a successful business. Its about having a relaxed work environment where people get things done when they want. It has nothing to do with being lazy. He doesnt mention the word "lazy" once throughout the book. Atleast I havent come across the word. As for your blog, it seems you are describing being lazy the same way Fred does. Just because you dont feel like putting a lot of work into something that doesnt interest you doesnt make you lazy. In other words, you do what you want and you work when you want. Why is that laziness? Its false to consider yourself lazy just because your lazy about doing certain things. Everyone is lazy about one thing or another. That doesnt make us lazy people.

To: AJ, I'd recommend reading Fred's book. You'll get what he means by lazy. You're way, way too stuck on words. Think: "Subtle". Read up on quantum physics, how it all begins with thoughts, observation. The building blocks of the Universe is energy/thoughts. Imagine a particular result, and then stay relaxed/lazy until you have plans suddenly pop into your head to achieve that result. You'll know what to do then, and then the action takes care of itself.

On the subject of trying to get rich by doing someone's plan, I wrote an article on this:

Is there a job for somebody who love to chase women at events and clubs, if so, where do i sign up....Doing what you love may be fun but not when it turns to work because you actually have to earn money from it. The idea of doing what I love sounds good in theory but when practiced it means being a professional. I like bodybuilding but not to do it competitively, why, because it doesnt pay enough and I dont like fame. Nor would I want to be a personal trainer because 1.I like being behind the scenes I dont want to be on the front lines having to be somewhere physically 2.It is a service and not a residual business. and 3.the money would have to be very lucrative so, to do what you love is actually work 24/365. Your married to that business. What can one do?